Parent Partners and Teenage Tauntrums
by AngieWhite
Summary: It's not easy being an S-ranked nukenin and part of one of the world's most evil organizations. Especially not if you have to deal with hormones, tauntrums and growing-pains. Luckily the younger Akatsuki members have such kind and understanding partners.
1. Puppets as Partners

**Puppets As Partners**

"You did it again?" Pain rubbed his temples. "Why?"

No answer.

"Why, Sasori? It's your third one this month. You're almost as bad as Kakuzu."

The redhead stared defiantly at a stretch of wall slightly to the right of Pain's head.

"He was annoying."

"So what? Finding new members is not easy, Sasori, you can't dispose of them just because they're irritating."

"I don't dispose of them," Sasori defended himself, "I still have them."

"Puppets do not count as partners."

"Tch."

"Okay," sighed Pain, "here's what we'll do. I'm going to give you a new partner, but so you appreciate how difficult they are to come by, you're going to go and fetch him yourself. And I'm sending Kisame and Itachi with you. They're an example of good partnership, maybe you'll learn something from them."

Sasori snorted scornfully.

"This is the one," Pain continued, ignoring the reaction and handing Sasori a file. "And it's a good one, so if you kill him, you can consider yourself banished."

"Hn." Sasori glanced at the file, his eyes widening in surprise. "I'm getting a little girl as partner?!"

"It's not a girl," said Pain wearily. "Now get going."


	2. Of Boys and Food

**Of Boys And Food**

Sasori tapped his fingers impatiently against the table. This was getting ridiculous. When they'd finally found his partner-to-be and Itachi had convinced him to join, Sasori had thought they'd immediately start their journey back to the main hideout. But for some absurd, human reason Kisame had suggested that they first 'grab a bite and get to know each other a little'.

So now Sasori was sitting at some run-down inn, watching the others eat. If 'eat' was even a proper word for this kind of behaviour. Kisame was a big man, so Sasori figured it was only natural for him to eat a lot, but the other two? His new partner was _tiny_, and yet he was already on his third helping and showing no signs of slowing down.

"Kakuzu's going to have a heart attack when he sees the check," Sasori muttered.

"Ah, relax," said Kisame, dropping his chopsticks on his empty plate and looking contentedly at the two younger members. "They're teenage boys, they need lots of nourishment. I'm just glad Itachi's eating, he's a bit picky about food sometimes."

The Uchiha paused to glare sideways at his partner before bending down over his plate again.

"Well, you are," said Kisame pleasantly. "Anyway, Kakuzu doesn't have to see the check; tonight's on me."

Now it was the new member's turn to look up from his food.

"Really?" he beamed. "Thank you!"

Kisame chuckled.

"You're welcome. See, Sasori, it's a polite one you've gotten."

"Tch." Sasori gazed at the blonde, who'd returned to what was more and more starting to look like an eating competition between him and Itachi. "Hey, brat."

The boy looked up at him, his mouth full of rice.

"What's your name again?"

Swallowing hard, the boy managed to answer.

"It's Deidara."


	3. Any Colour You Like

**Any Colour You Like**

"Why do I have to do this again, hm?" Deidara asked sourly.

"Because it's part of the uniform."

"But what if I think it's silly?"

"You're new, you don't have the right to think anything," Sasori snapped impatiently. "Now hurry up, Leader-sama wants to see you."

"Let's go see him then."

"Not until you've finished this."

"But I don't want to."

"You have to."

"Hmpf." Deidara stared at the bottles in front of him.

"But I can choose colour, yeah?"

"Yes."

"Can I use all of them? Like, one colour on each nail?"

"No," said Sasori, thinking that it might be worth expulsion from the Akatsuki just to get to kill this annoying brat.

"Boring." Deidara eyed the different shades of nail polish again, his hand eventually moving towards a purple one. Right before touching the bottle, however, he withdrew it with a frown.

"Itachi has purple, yeah?"

Sasori didn't even bother to answer.

"I'll use the black," Deidara informed him.

The teen reached out and took the bottle, holding it up in front of Sasori with an expectant look on his face.

"What?"

"I've never painted my nails before. Can you show me how to do it?"


	4. The Early Bird Catches The Weasel?

**The Early Bird Catches The... Weasle?**

Sasori sighed loudly.

"Where _is_ he? I knocked on his door half an hour ago."

"Maybe he's not awake yet," Kisame said, not looking up from the paper he was reading.

"But I knocked on his door."

Kisame grinned, turning a page.

"You need to remember he's a teenager. They can sleep all day."

Sasori raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"You mean he's still sleeping?"

"Probably."

"But it's _nine o'clock_!" the puppet master exclaimed, getting up from the table. "I'm going to get him."

"Good luck," Kisame chuckled.

---

"Deidara!"

Sasori flung open the door to his partner's room and found him still in bed, fast asleep. For a split second he wondered how someone so small could take up so much space; the teen's limbs and hair were spread out all across the mattress. Then, with an impatient flick of his hand, Sasori attached chakra threads to Deidara's arms and legs and yanked him up into a sitting position.

"Hey!" the blond protested, glaring groggily at him. "I was sleeping, yeah?"

"I could tell," said the puppet master dryly. "It is time to work, I want you ready in half an hour. You should know that while Kisame may be sitting like a fool in the kitchen, waiting for the Uchiha brat to wake up, I for one will not tolerate that kind of behaviour. And clean you room some time, you've only been here a week and it already looks like it's been bombed."

"You mean Itachi's still sleeping? That's unfair, yeah!" Deidara pouted, wrapping his blanket around him as Sasori released the chakra threads.

"Tough luck, brat," the redhead snapped, turning to leave."Don't even think about going back to bed," he called over his shoulder.

Deidara frowned and stuck out all three of his visible tongues at Sasori's retreating back. Yawning widely he waited until his partner was out of earshot before tumbling out of the bed. He snatched a bag of explosive clay from the floor and snuck out into the corridor and over to Itachi's closed door. Grinning to himself he took a piece of clay in the mouth of his right palm, chewed it a bit and shaped it into a small weasel. He opened the Uchiha's door a fraction, slipped the weasel in and closed it silently. Raising his index and middle finger he set the bomb off with a quiet "Katsu!", before quickly scrambling down to the kitchen.


	5. Breakfast at the Akatsuki's

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long delay, I blame it all on school. But I'm back now. It's funny how these "drabbles" just get longer and longer...

---

**Breakfast at the Akatsuki's**

Itachi stared at Deidara across the table. The blonde was engaged in a lively argument with Sasori, but he kept shooting angry glares at Itachi from the corner of his eye.

He would crack at any time now.

Since Deidara joined, breakfast at the Akatsuki hideout had become an unnecessarily noisy affair. The boy seemed to think that a meal should consist of equal parts food and conversation, and unfortunately those conversations tended to turn into fights between him and Sasori.

Itachi usually slept past breakfast, but lately Deidara had taken to waking him up with a minor explosion every morning, and since Itachi was unable to fall back to sleep once he'd woken, he'd started joining the others for their morning meal. The reason Deidara did this, Kisame had explained, was because Sasori always made him get up at eight and he thought it was _unfair_ that Itachi should get to sleep in. Itachi found it rather admirable that Deidara even bothered to look for fairness in the Akatsuki.

But admirable or not, Itachi didn't like being bombed in the mornings. He didn't like being bombed _any_ time, but especially not before eleven. Therefore, Deidara was to pay and Itachi thought he'd figured out the perfect way to get his revenge.

He ate slowly and deliberately, never taking his eyes off the blonde. He was a master at staring, even by Uchiha standards, and even if he didn't use his Sharingan, his gaze had the ability to drive people to the brink of insanity. He'd used to play this game with his little brother and something told him Deidara would react in much the same way…

"Good morning!"

The arrival of Pain made everyone stop what they were doing and look up. The leader never ate with them and hardly ever showed himself in the kitchen at all.

"I just wanted to inform you that we have a new member, so I want all of you in the assembly hall at twelve," he announced, looking unusually smug. "I expect you to be on time. Have a nice meal."

Itachi went back to staring at Deidara as soon as Pain had closed the door, but the blonde turned to Sasori, apparently forgetting that they were supposed to be arguing.

"What was up with that, hm? I've never seen him so cheerful."

"He found a new partner for Kakuzu," the puppet master grunted, clearly not so willing to let the argument go.

"_Another_ one? I didn't think he was supposed to get any more partners, hm?"

"Well," Sasori shrugged, "apparently this one is immortal."

"Immortal?" Deidara gave a low whistle. "No wonder Leader-sama happy. A perfect match, yeah?"

Itachi intensified his gaze slightly. He could see the blonde twitch and glance at him from the corner of his eye. He smirked slightly. Any time now…

Deidara did his best to ignore him, but as Itachi put down his chopsticks and leaned back in his chair without even blinking, he finally lost it.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" he burst out, getting to his feet and pointing an accusing finger at Itachi.

The rest of the breakfast eaters looked surprised at him.

"What?" Itachi blinked innocently.

"You're _staring_ at me!"

"Yes."

"Yeah!" Deidara looked thrown off by the answer. "Why, hm?"

"You have rice in your hair. Right there."


	6. A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

**A Stitch in Time Saves Nine**

"All right everyone, I want you to welcome our newest member: Hidan of Yugakure." Pain gestured towards the silver-haired person standing next to him, wearing an expression that wasn't quite as respectful as one would expect from someone who was about to join the world's most evil organization.

The rest of the group eyed him sceptically.

"Congratulations," Sasori muttered to Kakuzu, "looks like you've got yourself a teenager as well."

"Hey, I heard that!" The newcomer glared at him. "I'm twenty, you know."

The puppet master shrugged.

"Same difference."

"The fuck it is! What are you anyway, like, twelve?"

Sasori's hand twitched, but he resisted the urge to put a senbon through a well chosen part of the idiot's nervous system. He was Kakuzu's partner, which meant Kakuzu was the one with the privilege to beat him bloody.

"So," Pain cleared his throat, "Hidan will be working with Kakuzu-"

"Hey!" Hidan's eyes had wandered from Sasori and over to Deidara, who was sitting next to him, "I didn't know there were girls in this club!"

Deidara's eyes narrowed dangerously, but before he could do anything Sasori had bound him with chakra threads in a swift flick of the hand. This didn't keep him from talking, though, and Pain's whimpered "Club?" was drowned in a shrieked "What did you just call me?!"

"Jeeze, I'm sorry," Hidan looked quite startled and only a little bit amused at the reaction. "I just thought you were a girl..."

"Well, I'm _not_, and _you_" Deidara suddenly whipped around to glare at Itachi, who was looking back with his usual, unreadable expression, "stop laughing!"

The others glanced at the blonde as if momentarily doubting his sanity, because surely no one in their right mind would accuse Uchiha Itachi of laughing?

"Anyway," Pain said, trying to steer the meeting back on track. "Now you've all met and Hidan, your partner will show you your room and provide you with clothes. I guess that's it, this meeting is o-"

"Leader-sama." Kakuzu's low grumbling interrupted him. "Requesting permission to test if he's really immortal."

Pain nodded. He had been hoping to get to test it himself, but since Hidan was Kakuzu's partner, it wasn't more than right he'd get to do it.

"Request granted."

Kakuzu tilted his head as a sign of gratitude and without further ado his hand shot forwards, threads still attaching it to his arm, and hit Hidan in his chest with enough force to pierce it and come out on the other side.

"Ouch!" Hidan looked down at the blood flowing down his front as the hand was withdrawn, taking small pieces of flesh with it. "That fucking hurt!"

"Look, it's bubbling!" Kisame whispered to Itachi in a tone of grossed-out excitement, while the rest of the organization watched Hidan healing up again with mild interest.

"Well, I think we have established that you are immortal," Pain said wearily over an increasingly louder stream of curses from Hidan. "This meeting is over."

Sympathy wasn't the most common of feelings among the Akatsuki, but as the they left the hall, they were all silently grateful that they weren't Kakuzu.


	7. LoveArt Blues

**A/N:** Sorry for taking so long between updates. I blame it all on school.

---

Itachi entered the kitchen, where Kisame, Hidan and Kakuzu were just finishing breakfast, looking slightly confused. Most people would, of course, claim that he didn't 'look' anything at all, since he wore the same stoic expression as ever, but Kisame knew better. Left to himself, Itachi wouldn't wake up until lunch time, or at least he wouldn't leave his room until then. Since Deidara joined the Akatsuki, however, the blonde had taken to waking him with a minor bomb outside his door every morning, supposedly to make up for Sasori forcing _him_ to get up at eight.

Today, Kisame guessed, Deidara hadn't followed his routine and Itachi had probably woken by himself, confused by this sudden change.

The Uchiha sat down by the table, casting a look at Sasori and Deidara's empty chairs before glancing quickly at Kisame.

"They're with Leader-sama," Kisame answered his silent question. "Or at least Sasori is, I don't know if Deidara can stand."

Itachi halted mid-movement, his hand hanging in the air halfway to the rice bowl.

"Yeah, er, apparently Deidara wanted to do some kind of artistic cooperation with Sasori," Kisame scratched the back of his head and sighed, "so he blew up one of Sasori's puppets."

There was a snort of laughter form Hidan, earning him a scowl from Kisame.

"It's not funny, Hidan."

"Sure as hell it is!" The silver-haired man chuckled. "That fucking idiot..."

"The poor boy was just trying to be friendly, so cut it out."

"Lay off my partner," Kakuzu interfered, glaring at Kisame and getting up from his chair. "It's time for us to get moving." He struck Hidan hard across the head, almost causing him to bury his face in his bowl of soup. "Come on."

"Ouch!" Hidan yelled. "That fucking hurt! Hey, Kakuzu, you bastard, wait!"

There was a loud 'bang' as the door slammed shut and silence fell.

"Anyway," Kisame took up the conversation again, "Sasori didn't kill him, so I think it's all right. I mean, I know that Leader-sama threatened to exclude Sasori if he killed another partner and all that, but I still think he likes Deidara. They just need to learn to deal with each other."

---

Itachi stared at the door in front of him. He'd done so for the last fifteen minutes, listening carefully for any sound that might tell him if there was anyone behind it. He had already heard breathing, the slight creaking of a mattress and several deep sighs, not to mention sensing a familiar, if somewhat weakened, flow of chakra, so he should be able to draw the conclusion there was indeed a person behind the door and that he was alive and reasonably well. Yet he couldn't force himself to leave.

"If you're going to stand there for much longer you might as well come in here and laugh at me, yeah?" an impatient voice suddenly demanded.

Itachi started and looked more carefully at the door, from which the voice had come. He had lost his concentration and been discovered. That hadn't happened in years. He carefully entered the room, eyes immediately falling on Deidara, who was lying in his bed, grinning at him.

"Did you think I was so hurt I wouldn't notice you or were you just insulting me?"

Itachi shrugged, gazing at the blonde. There were no visible signs of injury, but then again, Sasori never left any marks on his victims. He had probably just put a senbon in some well-chosen nerve.

"Sasori-san got a bit upset with me," Deidara said, "but I guess you've already heard the story, yeah?"

Itachi nodded.

"He's getting yelled at by Leader-sama now, though," Deidara continued, looking rather pleased with this. "I don't know why he's always such a grumpy-ass. I was just trying to connect with him, yeah? How do you and Kisame-san get along so well?"

Furrowing his brow slightly, Itachi contemplated this for a while.

"He doesn't bother me," he answered finally.

Deidara sighed.

"You never talk much, do you?"

"No."

The blonde grinned.

"So, are you going to stand around here much longer or could I get some sleep?"

Itachi turned to leave.

"I'll wake you up as usual tomorrow, so no worries."

"Hn."


	8. Bedside Manners

**A/N:** This chapter has been bugging me for months and I've written a whole bunch of other chapters to follow after this one,so now I'm just going to post it like this. To make up for it I can promise a fast(er) update:)

---

"So, how long are you going to lay around like this?"

Hidan was sitting next to Itachi on the edge of Deidara's bed. The silver-head had found him standing outside the door to Deidara's room, not quite daring to enter, and resolutely pulled him inside. Itachi suspected he was trying to hide from Kakuzu.

Deidara shrugged as best he could with half his body paralysed.

"Sasori-san said he gave me a long-lasting poison so I'd have a lot of time to 'contemplate my stupidity'. But he reckons it will wear off in a week or two."

Hidan snorted.

"Idiot."

"I guess I'm lucky he didn't turn me into a puppet, yeah?"

"He turns people into puppets?" Hidan frowned. "Fucking gross."

"It is not gross!" Deidara protested indignantly. "It's art."

"Freak."

"They are kind of beautiful," the blonde said defensively, adding after a moment's thought: "But they did look so much better when they exploded." He sighed wistfully. "I wish he'd let me do that more often. He could be like my danna."

"Danna?" Hidan looked sceptical, while Itachi made a small sound that might have been laughter.

"Yeah, you know how a geisha can have a danna who supports them and provides them with means to pursue their arts?"

"So you're comparing yourself to a geisha?"

"Off course," Deidara tried to sit up straighter, an enthusiastic gleam in his eye, "they're all devoted artists and spend their whole lives-"

"You're a girl," Hidan grinned and Deidara stopped mid-sentence to glare at him.

"You're a philistine."

"You're still a girl."

"You're lucky I'm paralysed. And you too," He turned angrily to Itachi, "or I'd have bombed you a long time ago for hanging around outside my door every day just to mock me."

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Oh, you're going to use your almighty Sharingan on me now, yeah?" Deidara fired up, "well, just you try, because when this poison wears off I'm going to-"

"Jeeze, cool it, Deidara-chan," Hidan looked amused, "the guy hasn't even done anything. Because you don't hang around outside his room every day, do you?" He added sceptically to Itachi.

The Uchiha gave him a dark glare, which made Hidan's eyes widen in amazement.

"You do?" A broad grin spread across his face. "Oh, isn't that cute? He's looking out for his little sister."

Deidara opened his mouth to yell at him, but closed it again in fear as Itachi's eyes suddenly turned bright red. He gave the terrified-looking Hidan a warning glare before standing up and abruptly leaving the room.

---

A/N: Everything I know about geisha and dannas comes from this article: .org/wiki/Geisha#Personal_relationships_and_danna

So if I'm wrong, just blame wiki.


	9. Boys Will Be Boys

There was a loud bang followed by a rumbling noise sounding very much like a wall falling apart. Kisame sighed and glanced at Sasori, who was doing a great job pretending he hadn't heard anything.

"Sounds like they're at it again."

Sasori shrugged.

"Just as good. With a little luck Uchiha might kill him for me."

Kisame rolled his eyes.

"When are you going to stop that? You don't want him killed."

"Hn. I guess he is the most tolerable partner I've had so far, if he only weren't such a kid."

There was another bang followed by a moment's silence. Then Deidara came storming into the kitchen, fuming and bleeding from his forehead.

"I hate that bloody Sharingan, yeah!" he declared before stamping out again.

Itachi entered short after, brushing dust and pieces of wallpaper from his cloak, and started digging through the cupboards for sweets.

---

"Your partners are getting completely out of control. Can you give me one good reason to why I should keep tolerating this?" Pain glared demandingly at the two men standing in front of him.

"Boys will be boys?" Kisame suggested.

"Not in the Akatsuki," said Pain gravely. "They wrecked the entire North Wing. I have repeatedly told you to keep them under control and as their seniors I thought you would have some influence on them, but it seems I was wrong."

"Actually," Kisame ventured, "Itachi-san is my senior."

"All the more reason for him _not_ to behave as an adolescent brat."

"Well, actually, he _is-_"

"Are you defending their behaviour?"

"Look, Leader-sama," Sasori interrupted, "they'll probably get tired of it soon, if we just let them be."

"No," Pain shook his head, "that is intolerable. Besides if they are not stopped Kakuzu will soon kill them and use their bounties to cover the reparation costs. No, there's only one solution. From now on you will be going on more frequent missions and I will make sure you are at the base together as little as possible. It is about time for us to get moving anyway."

Sasori and Kisame suddenly looked excited.

"The Bijuu?" Sasori asked.

"Yes. We're going to start with letting you take your brat on a little tour in Suna."


	10. Heading Out

Sasori entered Deidara's room to find him deeply bent over something that looked like a deformed camera lens. Leaning over the boy's shoulder, Sasori eyed it disapprovingly.

"Is that some new bomb you're inventing?"

"No, this is my new Defeat-The-Sharingan-Device," Deidara answered enthusiastically. "I'm going to keep it over my eye to build up resistance against the Sharingan."

"You know you're not supposed to tell people things like that," said Sasori, not even bothering to point out that there was no such thing as 'resistance against the Sharingan'. "They'll use it against you."

"I know, but I can trust you Danna, yeah?"

Sasori sighed and wondered how it was possible for a shinobi as skilled as Deidara to be so naive.

"You'd better get it finished tonight, we're leaving early tomorrow."

The blonde shone up.

"A mission?"

"Yes, Bijuu hunting."

"We're going to catch a Bijuu?!" Deidara beamed. "For real, yeah?"

"Yes, eventually, we have some preparations to-"

"Is Itachi going too?"

"Not yet."

"Ha!" Deidara performed a little victory dance in his chair. "I get to catch a Bijuu and he doesn't!"

"I said he's not going yet," Sasori said impatiently. "He's catching the Nine-tails."

The blonde looked suspiciously at him.

"And which one do we get?"

"One-tail."

"Hmpf." Deidara crossed his arms grumpily. "Well, when I get back I'll be strong enough to defeat him, yeah."

"I doubt it, but anyway you're not seeing each other again. Leader-sama's orders."

"Why not?"

Sasori rolled his eyes.

"Because obviously you two can't without turning the place into a battlefield."

"That's not fair, yeah!"

"It is very fair. Why are you so disappointed, I thought you hated him?"

"Yeah, but I was going to beat him," Deidara sulked. "But wait," he added, shining up again, "when we seal the Bijuu I'll have to meet him, yeah?"

"When we seal the Bijuu you'll be concentrating on sealing the Bijuu and nothing else," said Sasori sternly. "Now get your things together, we'll leave at sunrise."


	11. Shelter From The Storm

The rain was pouring down, making Deidara's blonde hair stick to his face and soaking his cloak. Sasori eyed him from the cover of Hiruko and sighed. It was extremely annoying to have the brat sitting there, shivering like a drenched puppy. Sighing again he opened the hatch on Hiruko's body a fraction and beckoned to Deidara.

"Get in here, brat, before you get wet."

Deidara looked surprised, but quickly clambered into the puppet and squeezed himself down next to Sasori.

"Thank you, danna."

"Hn." Sasori squirmed a little, trying to find some non-existing spare space. "I can't let you catch a cold or something stupid like that now when you're going to fetch the Ichibi in a couple of days."

"What?" Deidara's face shone up. "You're going to let me get it, danna?"

"You don't think you could handle it?"

"Of course I can, yeah!" The boy looked absolutely thrilled.

"Then stop making that stupid face," Sasori muttered, already starting to regret his decision.


	12. Master of Puppets

Deidara was sitting outside Leader-sama's office, waiting for his new partner to be announced. A sudden presence made him look up and find Itachi standing at the end of the corridor, staring at him. Pain's ambitions to keep Itachi and Deidara out of each other's sight had quite failed when the latter had suddenly come back from the attack of the cave with only one arm and the news of Sasori's death. Deidara had seemed just as irritable as always, especially seeing as Tobi was with him, claiming he had dibs on the blonde's right arm, but there had been something half-hearted about his glares at Itachi that had kept the Uchiha from attacking him, so Pain thought it safe enough without sending either of them away. At least for the moment.

And now Itachi was standing there, looking at Deidara with the same blank expression as ever.

"Have you come to laugh at me, hm?" Deidara asked, not quite having the energy to be angry.

Itachi shook his head and averted his gaze, staring instead at the wall slightly to the left of Deidara and looking almost shy. Eventually he said, in a voice as stern as always:

"If Kisame died I'd be sad."


	13. Every Artist Needs A Danna

There was something about his new partner that annoyed Deidara. It wasn't only that Tobi talked constantly and acted like an idiot, which in itself would have been irritating enough, but the fact that, despite his childish behaviour, there was something about Tobi that made Deidara feel inferior to him. Even when he called him 'Deidara-sempai' and acted the clown, Deidara got the feeling that Tobi was just making fun of him. It reminded him in an unpleasant way of Itachi and his stupid Sharingan. But while Itachi's taunts were open (which Deidara knew that they were, despite Sasori's conviction that he was just being paranoid and that the Uchiha always had the same expression) and could be answered with challenges and explosions, Tobi was beyond that, his mockery disguised in jests and even his face hidden behind that stupid, aesthetically revolting mask.

Even if Deidara knew that art thrives on misery, he could not help but thinking that things had been better when he'd had a fellow artist to share them with.


	14. Blood Is Thicker Than Explosives

"And since I was supposed to kill Orochimaru, I have a beef with Uchiha Sasuke too."

Deidara had never really meant to follow up on those words, he'd only said it to try and get a reaction out of Itachi, feeling somehow that if anything could wipe that blank expression off his face it would be the mention of his little brother. It hadn't helped, though, and Deidara thought that might be because Itachi understood that it was all just talk. So then he'd had to make a move to show the damn Uchiha that he was serious, but he hadn't planned on actually _finding_ Sasuke, just to look for him. But then Tobi had started nagging him about not going after Sasuke, so of course he had to do it.

Now that he was standing there, eye to eye with the younger Uchiha, he didn't regret it at all. Sasuke's eyes were the same nonchalant red as his brother's, but with a more distinct air of smugness, which made them even more irritating. If Deidara couldn't get a reaction out of Itachi, then at least he should get one out of his brother, no matter the cost.

---

"Are you okay with that, Itachi?"

There was a note of concern in Kisame's voice, but Itachi didn't answer. Of course he was okay with it, he was okay with most things these days. But he was sad that Deidara should have to die so soon, and even more so because he would have to hurt Sasuke first.


	15. Brothers In Arms

**A/N:** I'm sorry about the long delay, I don't have any good excuse. I'm also sorry that it's getting so angsty, but that's all Kishi's fault.

---

Itachi was looking strangely small where he stood, rain soaking his hair and making his slightly too large cloak cling to his shoulders and arms. Like so many times before, Kisame wondered what he was thinking. The boy always seemed to be brooding over something.

"From here it looks like you're crying." He didn't know what had made him say that, but he might as well finish what he'd started. "I'm sorry about your little brother."

Kisame half expected to see the red Sharingan flaring at him as Itachi turned his head, but the boy's eyes were as dark as ever. When he was younger he always freaked out and set fire to something at the mention of his brother, but eventually he'd learned to control that. Until Deidara showed up, that is. Kisame found it amusing that the blonde and the surviving brother could provoke such similar reactions and figured it had probably been good for Itachi. Now they were both gone, though, leaving Itachi perfectly calm and collected.

"No," the boy said, much to Kisame's surprise. "He's not dead yet..."


	16. What Goes Around Comes Around

It was strange how the young and the immortals kept dying, Kisame mused. He himself had never been much for eternal life, it just didn't seem right, but even in the Akatsuki, boys ought to live long enough to become men.

But now Deidara had become one with his art in the form of the world's biggest hole in some forest in Fire Country and Itachi had been killed by his brother. What goes around comes around, Kisame supposed, but he'd known Itachi, or at least known him better than most, and something told him that the boy wouldn't just go die in a fight, ill or not, unless he wanted to. So when Sasuke had dressed in the Akatsuki colours Kisame couldn't help but thinking that Itachi spared his life twice. He did not know why or how it all fitted into Mizukage's great plan, but he knew that Sasuke was about the same age as Itachi had been when they'd first met and by the look of it the younger Uchiha could throw even worse tantrums than his brother. Kisame didn't actually think that Itachi had left Sasuke in his care, but since he was there he might as well keep an extra eye on him. God knows it's needed, Kisame thought as he watched Sasuke sitting next to him at the table, the boy was an even pickier eater than Itachi.

---

**A/N:** And that, my friends, was the last chapter. I really didn't mean for it to become so angsty, but I blame it all on Kishi for killing off the boys like that. Big thanks to everyone who's followed this fic:)


End file.
